MySpace has announced support for Microsoft's Silverlight to deliver rich Internet application experiences into the MySpace Open Platform.

The introduction of Silverlight into the MySpace Open Platform empowers MySpace developers with more freedom and flexibility to design OpenSocial applications using the tools and technology they want, MySpace officials said. Silverlight and the MySpace Open Platform will enable developers to rapidly create and deliver MySpace applications with a custom look and feel through the flexible skinning of controls and data, the company said.

“We are pleased to bring MySpace users the benefits and flexibility of Microsoft’s platforms,” said Aber Whitcomb, chief technology officer of MySpace. “Our relationship enables app developers to use Silverlight to create engaging MySpace apps and allows Windows Mobile users to have a more personal MySpace experience on their phone.”

Microsoft and MySpace have released an Open Source kit that makes it easy to develop OpenSocial applications using Silverlight that run on the MySpace Open Platform. To learn about this kit and how designers and developers can use it to create interactive, engaging apps on MySpace, visit here, and read the blog post about MySpace’s support of Silverlight at developer.myspace.com.

“Microsoft is pleased to work with MySpace to enable developers to create compelling and custom OpenSocial applications using Silverlight,” said Brian Goldfarb, director of the developer platform group at Microsoft, in a statement. “By utilizing the Open Source kit released by Microsoft and MySpace, developers can now harness the power of the rich media features in Silverlight to take the user experience to a new level for the MySpace community.”

Meanwhile, in a blog post, Michael Scherotter is a Media Experience Evangelist for Media and Communications with Microsoft, said:

On Thursday, April 2, MySpace and Microsoft will jointly release a kit on the CodePlex Open Source site (with the MS-PL License) that will make it easy for developers using Visual Studio and designers using Expression Blend to create Silverlight applications on MySpace’s OpenSocial-based developer platform.

Along with Max Newbould, Development Manager for OpenSocial on MySpace, I will be giving a presentation at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco on Thursday, April 2 at 1:30 PM on this Silverlight Kit for MySpace.  The kit should be available on CodePlex at the conclusion of the session.

Moreover, Scherotter, who said he has been working with MySpace for months on the effort, added:

"As the MySpace Developer Platform grows and evolves, we want to keep Silverlight as a relevant option for designers and developers who want to create engaging, interactive application for MySpace users. Working with developers at MySpace we’ve created a kit that would let designers with Expression Blend use data binding in Silverlight to connect to the data provided by the MySpace Developer Platform. We’ve even added design-time and offline sample data to the kit to aid in development."